Refuse destructor

ABSTRACT

A refuse destructor of the type including a furnace inside which a casing carries a succession of stepped grates through which the incinerated garbage drops into a stream of air so as to be conveyed towards an ash-pit, said grates sloping with reference to a horizontal plane at an angle which decreases from the rearmost towards the foremost grate.

United States Patent Maille 1 1 Jan. 30, 1973 s41 REFUSE DESTRUCTOR 2,381,182 8/1945 Puckett ..110/s 1,450,489 4/1923 Cruse ..110/88 [75] Inventor. Claude Maille, 96 Scarcelles, France 1,894,170 [933 GlaenZerM W66 Assignee: Stein Industries Paris France SChUtZ X 3,016,849 1/1962 Markle,Jr. et a1. 110/38 X [22] Filed: Jan. 18, 1971 [21] App1.No.: 107,031 Primary Examiner-Kenneth W. Sprague [30] Foreign Application Priority Data AtmmeYAmld Robmson Aug.4, 1970 France ..7029153 7 H H p w [52] 11.8. C1 ..1l0/32 R, 110/8 R, 110/165 R 57 ABSTRACT [51] Int. Cl ..F23h 7/00 [58] Field of Search 1 10/8 R 32 38 39 88 165 A refuse destructor of the type lncluding a furnace 1ni h side which a casing carries a succession of stepped grates through which the incinerated garbage drops [56] Reerences Cited into a stream of air so as to be conveyed towards an s ash-pit, said grates s1oping with reference to a horizon- UNITED STATES PATENTS tal plane at an angle which decreases from the rearmost towards the foremost grate. 3,005,446 10/1961 Kock ..110/38 X 9 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures 1,984,344 12/1934 Hofftetal. ..110/39X PATENTED JAN 30 I975 SHEET 1 OF 2 /W0/ /fi EEM PATENTEU JAN 30 I975 SHEET 2 0F 2 REFUSE DESTRUCTOR Known refuse destructors for incinerating household refuse and the like include a furnace and a casing acting as an ashbin and as a distributor of primary air and the upper part of which carries a plurality of grates in stepped formation and the lower part of which encloses one or more vibrators, said casing resting on a carrier frame through the agency of elastic means while a fan housed within said carrier frame is connected with the casing through a yielding connection.

In one embodiment of such a refuse destructor, the grates were laid horizontally. Now, experience has shown that the operation of the incinerating refuse destructor is considerably improved when the grates are given a slope with reference to a horizontal plane, the slope decreasing generally from one grate to the next.

My invention has consequently for its object improvements in refuse destructors of the type referred to,according to which improvements the different grates slope with reference to a horizontal plane, the slope of any grate being lower than that of the grates lying upstream and larger than that of the grates lying downstream while the slope of the uppermost grate is less than 40 and the slope of the lowermost grate is less than 10.

In order to prevent the finer particles of garbage from creeping between the grates and the sidewalls of the furnace, a trough secured to the wall of the casing may be provided with a flange engaging a strip of elastic material secured to the wall of the furnace, said trough sloping downwardly so that its lower end opens into an ash-removing pan. This trough provides both for fluidtightness between the casing and the furnace and for exhaust of any material which may creep between the grates and the cooperating wall of the furnace.

I have described hereinafter, by way of exemplification and in a non-limiting sense, a preferred embodiment of a refuse destructor according to my invention, reference being made to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic longitudinal cross-sectional view of the refuse destructor.

FIG. 2 is a transverse sectional view of a detail of such a refuse destructor.

As illustrated, my improved refuse destructor includes a furnace 1 made of refractory material and provided at its upper end with an opening 2 communicating with a chimney 3 with interposition of dust-collecting baffles 4.

Inside the furnace 1, there is housed a supporting member 5 with a sloping upper surface, said member being constituted by a movable carriage running on wheels 6 engagingrails 7 anchored in the ground.

A casing 8 having a sloping bottom rests on the supporting carriage 5 with the interposition of springs or elastic pads 9. The upper part of the casing 8 is closed by a plurality of flat grates 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d, l0e, arranged in stepped relationship and the uppermost grate is fed by a hopper 11.

In order to further the flow of garbage to be incinerated, the grates slope downwardly. In the case illustrated there are five grates assuming the following slopes in the direction of the flow of the garbage particles.

grate 10a 30' grate 10b 22 grate 10c 1230 grate 10d 5 grate l0e 5 The values of these slopes have been chosen with a view to obtaining an optimum flow, taking into account the condition of the raw garbage material which is to be transformed gradually into ashes.

Different slopes may be selected, depending on the condition of the garbage to be destroyed; however, in all cases, the slope to be given to the grates 10a, 10b, and 100, should be less than that of the preceding grate and more than that of the following grate, the slope of the uppermost grate 10a, being less than 40.

One or more shiftable weights l2 controlled by a clockwork are fitted on the casing 8 so as to modify its balance and to impart the grates 10a 10c with a vibratory motion which constrains the material to be incinerated and passing out of the hopper 11 to progress over the grates and which bestows said material with movability required for its progression and combustion under optimum conditions.

Underneath the casing 2 there extends an air feeding channel 13 which is narrower than the casing and which is connected through a collapsible sleeve 14 with a fan 15 supplying primary air and rigidly fitted inside the movable carriage 5.

Underneath the grates 10a 10e, there are formed compartments defined between successive partitions 18; each of said compartments is provided at its lower end with a port 16 adapted to be closed by a flap l7 and through which the compartment communicates with the channel 13 feeding primary air. The material dropping through the grates passes through the ports 16 into the channel 13 inside which it is carried along by the primary air so as to be exhausted outwardly beyond the gated sluice 19. v

A packing 20 provides further fluidtightness between the casing 8 and the furnace 1 and also means for exhausting the garbage particles which may have crept between the grate l0 and the sidewall of the furnace 1. Such a packing may be constituted as illustrated in FIG. 2 by a shaped member 21 forming a trough and of which one flange is secured to the outer wall of the easing 8 while another flange of said member engages a strip 22 of elastic heat resisting material which is secured to the underside of the bottom wall of the furnace 1. Ports 23 in the side wall of the casing 8 allow a fraction of the air carried inside said casing 8 to escape and to flow over the packing 20 so as to cool it. The garbage particles passing between the grates and the furnace wall drop onto the shaped member 21 along which they-move under the action of the vibratory movements of the casing 8 until they reach the ashremoving bin 24.

The ash-bin 24 is provided with a flap 25 pivotally secured at its upper end to the furnace structure and which ensures the exhaust of the ashes. The ashes are caused to progress by the vibratory movement of the casing 8 and drop off the last grate 10e onto the sloping surface 26 and then, under the action of gravity, they raise the flap 25 so as to pass beyond the same. Similarly, the garbage particles conveyed by the trough 21 drop onto said sloping surface 26 and pass beyond the pivoting flap 25.

During operation, the garbage to be incinerated and which has been fed into the hopper 11 by hand or mechanically drops onto the grate 10 in succession as provided by the vibratory movement of the casing and is burnt. The flaps l7 serve for adjusting the rate of combustion on each grate.

The combustion is at an end when the last grate 10a is reached, beyond which the ashes progress under and beyond the pivoting flap and drop into the pit 27 wherein they may be recovered for instance by means of a movable vat or else by a carriage provided with a bucket. On the other hand, the material flowing out through the air-conveying channel 13 is caused to enter the pit 27 through the sluice 19. I

The smoke gases escape through the opening 2 at the upper end of the furnace and the dust particles are separated from said smoke gases by the baffles 4 before the gases are exhausted into the atmosphere through the chimney 3.

The adjustment of the clockwork controlling the vibrator 12 ensures a combustion under excellent conditions of the material to be incinerated, taking into account the nature of said material.

When the refuse destructor described is not operative, the carriage may be removed so as to allow the inner refractory walls of the furnace and the grates to be cleaned.

Obviously, my invention is not limited to the details described and illustrated and it covers all the modifications thereof falling within the scope of the accompanying claims. In particular, if it is not possible to give the chimney 3 a height sufficient for it to induce the required draft, I may resort to an exhaust fan associated with dust-removing means located ahead of or beyond said fan.

What I claim is:

1. A refuse destructor comprising a furnace, a carrier member housed within the furnace, a casing resting on said carrier member, a plurality of separate compartments arranged in succession, each compartment being provided with a port in the bottom portion for supplying air for combustion and closed at the top by a separate grate, over which the refuse subjected to the furnace heat is to flow in succession each of said grates being positioned at an angle to a horizontal plane and the angle of the grate of each adjacent compartment at opposite sides of any one grate being difi'erent from the angle of said any one grate, a hopper adapted to feed refuse onto the rearmost grate, elastic means on said carrier member which support the casing, means adapted to subject the casing to a vibratory motion with reference to the carrier member, a fan secured to the carrier member, an air channel rigid with the casing extending underneath the components of the latter and in communication with the ports thereof, yielding means through which the fan delivers air into said channel, and an ashpit fed by said channel at a point downstream from said casing.

2. A refuse destructor as claimed in claim 1 wherein the slope of the rearmost grate is less than 40 and that of the foremost grate is less than 3. A refuse destructor as claimed in claim 1 comprising wheels for the carrier member.

4. A refuse destructor comprising a furnace, a carrier member housed within the furnace, a casing resting on said carrier member and including a succession of com- I partments, the lower ends of which are provided with ports and the upper ends of which are closed by grates over which the refuse subjected to the furnace heat is to flow in succession and which slope with reference to a horizontal plane by angles which decrease from rear to front, a hopper adapted to feed refuse onto the rearmost grate, elastic means through which the casing rests on the carrier member, means adapted to subject the casing to a vibratory motion with reference,to the carrier member, a fan secured to the carrier member, an air channel rigid with the casing extending underneath the compartments of the latter and in communication therewith through the ports thereof, yielding means through which the fan delivers air into said channel and an ash-pit fed by said channel at a point to the front of the casing, and a downwardly sloping gutter-shaped member extending between each sidewall of the casing and the furnace wall and including a flange engaging said casing side-wall, a strip of elastic material fitted fluid-tight between said gutter and said furnace wall and means through which the ashes dropping onto said gutter-shaped member are conveyed towards the ash pit.

5. A refuse destructor comprising a furnace, a carrier member housed within the furnace, a casing resting on said carrier member and including a succession of compartments, the lower ends of which are provided with ports and the upper ends of which are closed by grates over which the refuse subjected to the furnace heat is to flow in succession and which slope with reference to a horizontal plane by angles which decrease from rear to front, a hopper adapted to feed refuse onto the rearmost grate, elastic means through which the casing rests on the carrier member, means adapted to subject the casing to a vibratory motion with reference to the carrier member, a fan secured to the carrier member, an air channel rigid with the casing extending underneath the compartments of the latter and in communication therewith through the ports thereof, yielding means through which the fan delivers air into said channel and an ash-pit fed by said channel at a point to the front of .the casing said casing including a plurality of transverse partitions separating the compartments from one another and wherein the air channel slopes downwardly from rear to front to further the progression of the material falling onto said channel through the grates, the compartments and the ports in the compartments.

6. A refuse destructor comprising a furnace, a carrier member housed within the furnace, a casing resting on said carrier member and including a succession of compartments, the lower ends of which are provided with ports and the upper ends of which are closed by grates over which the refuse subjected to the furnace heat is to flow in succession and which slope with reference to a horizontal plane by angles which decrease from rear to front, a hopper adapted to feed refuse onto the rearmost grate, elastic means through which the casing rests on the carrier member, means adapted to subject the casing to a vibratory motion with reference to the carrier member, a fan secured to the carrier member, an air channel rigid with the casing extending underneath the compartments of the latter and in communication therewith through the ports thereof, yielding means through which the fan delivers air into said nace to be removed to the ash-pit.

8. The refuse destructor of claim 1 wherein each of said grates is positioned at a different angle to the said horizontal plane.

9. The refuse destructor of claim 8 wherein the angle at which each grate is positioned decreases with reference to the flow of refuse. 

1. A refuse destructor comprising a furnace, a carrier member housed within the furnace, a casing resting on said carrier member, a plurality of separate compartments arranged in succession, each compartment being provided with a port in the bottom portion for supplying air for combustion and closed at the top by a separate grate, over which the refuse subjected to the furnace heat is to flow in succession each of said grates being positioned at an angle to a horizontal plane and the angle of the grate of each adjacent compartment at opposite sides of any one grate being different from the angle of said any one grate, a hopper adapted to feed refuse onto the rearmost grate, elastic means on said carrier member which support the casing, means adapted to subject the casing to a vibratory motion with reference to the carrier member, a fan secured to the carrier member, an air channel rigid with the casing extending underneath the components of the latter and in communication with the ports thereof, yielding means through which the fan delivers air into said channel, and an ashpit fed by said channel at a point downstream from said casing.
 1. A refuse destructor comprising a furnace, a carrier member housed within the furnace, a casing resting on said carrier member, a plurality of separate compartments arranged in succession, each compartment being provided with a port in the bottom portion for supplying air for combustion and closed at the top by a separate grate, over which the refuse subjected to the furnace heat is to flow in succession each of said grates being positioned at an angle to a horizontal plane and the angle of the grate of each adjacent compartment at opposite sides of any one grate being different from the angle of said any one grate, a hopper adapted to feed refuse onto the rearmost grate, elastic means on said carrier member which support the casing, means adapted to subject the casing to a vibratory motion with reference to the carrier member, a fan secured to the carrier member, an air channel rigid with the casing extending underneath the components of the latter and in communication with the ports thereof, yielding means through which the fan delivers air into said channel, and an ashpit fed by said channel at a point downstream from said casing.
 2. A refuse destructor as claimed in claim 1 wherein the slope of the rearmost grate is less than 40* and that of the foremost grate is less than 10*
 3. A refuse destructor as claimed in claim 1 comprising wheels for the carrier member.
 4. A refuse destructor comprising a furnace, a carrier member housed within the furnace, a casing resting on said carrier member and including a succession of compartments, the lower ends of which are provided with ports and the upper ends of which are closed by grates over which the refuse subjected to the furnace heat is to flow in succession and which slope with reference to a horizontal plane by angles which decrease from rear to front, a hopper adapted to feed refuse onto the rearmost grate, elastic means through which the casing rests on the carrier member, means adapted to subject the casing to a vibratory motion with reference to the carrier member, a fan secured to the carrier member, an air channel rigid with the casing extending underneath the compartments of the latter and in communication therewith through the ports thereof, yielding means through which the fan delivers air into said channel and an ash-pit fed by said channel at a point to the front of the casing, and a downwardly sloping gutter-shaped member extending between each side-wall of the casing and the furnace wall and including a flange engaging said casing side-wall, a strip of elastic material fitted fluid-tight between said gutter and said furnace wall and means through which the ashes dropping onto said gutter-shaped member are conveyed towards the ash pit.
 5. A refuse destructor comprising a furnace, a carrier member housed within the furnace, a casing resting on said carrier member and including a succession of compartments, the lower ends of which are provided with ports and the upper ends of which are closed by grates over which the refuse subjected to the furnace heat is to flow in succession and which slope with reference to a horizontal plane by angles which decrease from rear to front, a hopper adapted to feed refuse onto the rearmost grate, elastic means through which the casing rests on the carrier member, means adapted to subject the casing to a vibratory motion with reference to the carrier member, a fan secured to the carrier member, an air channel rigid with the casing extending underneath the compartments of the latter and in communication therewith through the ports thereof, yielding means through which the fan delivers air into said channel and an ash-pit fed by said channel at a point to the front of the casing said casing including a plurality of transverse partitions separating the compartments from one another and wherein the air channel slopes downwardly from rear to front to further the progression of the material falling onto said channel through the grates, the compartments and the ports in the compartments.
 6. A refuse destructor comprising a furnace, a carrier member housed within the furnace, a casing resting on said carrier member and including a succession of compartments, the lower ends of which are provided with ports and the upper ends of which are closed by grates over which the refuse subjected to the furnace heat is to flow in succession and which slope with reference to a horizontal plane by angles which decrease from rear to front, a hopper adapted to feed refuse onto the rearmost grate, elastic means through which the casing rests on the carrier member, means adapted to subject the casing to a vibratory motion with reference to the carrier member, a fan secured to the carrier member, an air channel rigid with the casing extending underneath the compartments of the latter and in communication therewith through the ports thereof, yielding means through which the fan delivers air into said channel and an ash-pit fed by said channel at a point to the front of the casing, and a sluice positioned between the air channel and the ash-pit.
 7. A refuse destructor as claimed in claim 1, comprising a pivoting flap pivotally secured at its upper end to the furnace structure and positioned at the lower front end of the furnace to form a passageway between said furnace structure and a projection from a downwardly sloping member which receives the ashes from the furnace to be removed to the ash-pit.
 8. The refuse destructor of claim 1 wherein each of said grates is positioned at a different angle to the said horizontal plane. 